Drive for the movable grate of a transverse feeding installation for rolled stock

ABSTRACT

A drive for producing an oscillating movement during the vertical stroke of a cooling bed support grate for rolled stock which is movably supported in the horizontal direction by a plurality of rollers (18, 20) supported on inclined surfaces (15) and driven in an oscillating motion.

United States Patent 1191 Buchheit 1451 July 10, 1973 DRIVE FOR THE MOVABLE GRATE OF A TRANSVERSE FEEDING INSTALLATION FOR ROLLED STOCK [75} Inventor: 'Otto Karl Buchheit,Ingbert-Saar,

Germany [73] Assignee: Moeller & Neumann GmbH,

Ingbert-SaanGermany [22] Filedi Apr. 5, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 131,118

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 4, 1970 Germany P 20 16 248.5

52 US. (:1. 198/219 [51] Int. Cl. .L B65g 25/04 [58] Field of Search 198/219, 220 DA; 209/396 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,380,112 9/1932 Shmyroffetal. 198/219 3,332,539 7/1967 Buchheit 198/219 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,209,536 8/1960 Germany 1,026,686 3/1958 Germany 198/219 Primary Examiner--Evon C. Blunk Assistant Examinen-Douglas D. Watts Att0rney--John J. Dennemeyer [57] 1 ABSTRACT A drive for producing an oscillating movement during the vertical stroke of a cooling bed support gratefor rolled stock which is movably supported in the horizon tal direction by a plurality of rollers (18, 20) supported on inclined surfaces (15) and driven in an oscillating motion.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures DRIVE FOR THE MOVABLE GRATE OF A TRANSVERSE FEEDING INSTALLATION FOR ROLLED STOCK The invention relates to a drive for the movable grate of a transverse feeding installation, particularly for a cooling bed, which receives and transports temporarily the rolled stock to be transferred.

In a known early drive for the movable grate of an oscillating rake type cooling bed the drive shaft extends below the grate cross-wise of the rake or grate bars and carries a plurality of eccentric wheels on which the movable grate is supported at one end preferably close to its edge. The movable grate executes during the revolution of these eccentric wheels within their range circular movements so that it receives the stock to be transferred during the upward stroke, transports it cross-wise and deposits it again on a stationary grate during the downward stroke. In order to impart to the movable grate throughout its transporting distance positively an equal or similar feeding movement one has provided eitherbelow its other end an additional drive shaft provided with eccentric wheels, this representing the most expensive construction, or one has mounted the other end of the movable rolls on a rod system which carries out an up and down movement, as' shown in German Pat. No. 392,654, the movements of the rods being governed over push rods by additional cranks connected to the single drive shaft. For the mounting of the angle levers to which the push rods are connected and which are distributed throughout the length of the cooling bed one needs again a shaft which extends over the entire length of the cooling bed and is carried in a plurality of bearings.

Modern cooling bed drives have in place of the drive push rods and the angle levers heavy two arm levers for supporting the movable grate at its end remote from the single drive shaft, the levers being journalled stationary at the center and provided with roller supports at their ends. One set of rollers are mounted at additional disk like eccentric members of the single drive shaft which control the oscillating movements of the two arm levers in the sense that the rollers which are mounted at the free ends of the levers or drive rods and supporting the movable grate at a distance from the first eccentric members are driven by the amount of the stroke of the first eccentric members and in a timed coincidence with them in an up and down movement. Aside from the fact that also in this known construction each of the two arm levers must have a bearing point the fact that the driving levers for the support rollers to be raised and lowered are subjected by the weight of the'movable grate and of the fed material to a substantial bending stress and must be of a stronger construction the greater their length is required to be when the cooling bed must be of a substantial width, so that they become more expensive. Such a system is shown in the German application publication (DAS) 1,209,536.

It is further known to use in drives for actuating movable grates or lifting beams inclined travel surfaces or ramps for support rollers which impart to an oscillating grate a vertical motion component such as shown in the German Gebrauchsmuster Pat. No. 6,602,941 and in German Pat. No. 1,264,376.

The prior art comprises also a device for feeding separate rolled bars on a toothed oscillating grate which is moved by crank arms of a single drive shaft at its one end in an elliptical path and is supported at its other end over support rollers on an inclined ramp plane. However, since the translational movements of the support rollers are determined by the same eccentric members which move the oscillating grate in its elliptical path the vertical motion components of the eccentric members on the one hand and of the support rollers executing their rolling motion on the inclined ramp surfaces on the other hand are phase shifted. The result of this is that the motion path of the oscillating grate has at one end a different configuration than at the other end. This is shown in German patent application publication (DAS) 1,026,686.

It is an object of the present invention to make the drive for the movable grate of a transverse feeding installation, especially for a cooling bed, substantially simpler and less expensive. It is based on the concept of a drive which consists of a drive shaft extending bending stress of these drive rods employed hitherto as two arm levers is avoided according to the invention by the novel combination of two known features in that a. the drive rods are connected inthe manner of push rods to the second eccentric members and b. the free drive rod ends which carry rollers are supported on ramp surfaces which are inclined in the pushing direction of the drive rods.

In this way it is obtained that not only that additional bearing points for the drive rods are eliminated but that the drive rods, depending on the direction of the inclined ramp surfaces, are stressed either only for a pushing or only for a pulling action when the support rollers move upward on the ramp surfaces and lift the movable grate together with the: transfer stock. The drive rods may be made as long as desired without requiring that upon an increased width of the transverse feeding installation or the cooling bed it will be necessary to make them longer. These two effects, namely the elimination of the bearing points for the drive rods extending over the entire length of the feeding installation and the elimination of any bending stress of the drive rods extending from one end to the other of the installation have a substantial weight and consequently a cost saving effect.

The two groups of first and second eccentric members which are displaced relative to each other in an an' gular arrangement represent in the broadest sense control disks whose periphery may deviate from the circular form when the movable grate executes a movement which deviates from that of a circular path. Also the inclined ramp surfaces may be correspondingly disposed at a selected inclination either inorder to drive the grate at its two support ends in the same min a different manner depending on the characteristics selected for the rotating first control disks or eccentrics.

The connection of the drive rods to the second eccentric members in the manner of push rods according to one feature of the invention requires normally a close fit between one eye of the drive rods and the eccentric members, i.e., a closed bearing. The drive according to the invention is further simplified when the drive rods, in the manner known for supporting the movable grate on first eccentric disks are supported over a saddle with two rollers located at a particular distance from each other at the second also disk-like eccentric members and the ramp surfaces are inclined to slope down toward the drive shaft. This connection of the drive rods without a bearing to the second eccentric disks quasi over a sensing roller pair is made possible because due to the inclination of the ramp surfaces toward the shaft or the eccentric members the drive rods are constantly under pressure so that the sensing roller pair of each drive rod is pressed so firmly against its eccentric disk that the-drive rods which are loosely fitted are maintained in their operative position.

It is within the scope of the invention for the free ends of the drive rods to be supported over cross-head type slide shoes on the inclined ramp surfaces and the support rollers bearing against the counter surfaces of the movable grate or visa-versa. A rolling support as well at the ramp surfaces as also at the counter surfaces of the movable grate is made possible in a further embodiment of the invention in that the rollers of the drive rods which support the movable grate are associated with additional rollers which are independent in their direction of rotation over which rollers the drive rods are supported at the inclined ramp surfaces. However, this is not basically new.

In the drawing the drive according to the invention for the movable grate of an oscillating rake type cooling bed is shown as embodiment representing the invention. Instead of an oscillating rake consisting of toothed rake bars the grate can obviously also have straight lifting beams. Furthermore, it is within the scope of the invention to make the other grate movable rather than stationary. In the drawing FIG. 1 is a side view of the drive according to the invention showing a side view of one of the toothed rake bars in the raised position and FIG. 2 is a section through the support roller arrangement at the free end of a drive rod along line II II in FIG. 1.

The transverse feeding installation or the cooling bed consists of rake bars 1 assembled to form a stationary grate and of rake bars 2 assembled to constitute a movable grate, these reference numerals being also used hereafter for the grate proper. The rake bars 2 of the movable grate are set at their ends between pairs of angle irons 3, 4 which are supported on beams 5, 6. The cross-beam 5 is disposed at the left end of the cooling bed at a predetermined distance on saddles 7 which are supported over a support roller pair 8, 9 on first disk like eccentric members 10 of a drive shaft 11. The drive shaft 11 which extends over the entire length of the cooling bed transversely of the rake bars 1 and 2 is mounted in bearing blocks 12- and provided with a rotary drive not shown.

Support blocks 14 are mounted at the right cooling bed end at predetermined distances and have ramp surfaces 15 which are inclined to slope down toward the drive shaft 11, and the cross beams 6 have at the under side horizontal counter surfaces 16. On the inclined ramp surfaces 15 the movable grate 2 is supported at its right end by the intermediary of a roller arrangement as may be seen clearly in FIG. 2. A central support roller 18 of larger diameter bears exclusively against one of the counter surfaces 16. On both sides of the support roller 81 are journalled on the same shaft 19 two smaller rollers 20 so as to be freely rotatable and supported exclusively on the inclined ramp surfaces 15..

This support roller arrangement with rollers which are independent from each other in their direction of rotation is mounted in each instance at the free end of drive shafts 22 in that the bearing shaft 19 of each roller arrangement is passed through the forked end 22a of the drive rod 22.

Each drive rod 22 has at its driving end a saddle 24 with a support or sensing roller pair 25 over which the drive rod 22 is supported at a disk shaped eccentric 26. This simple connection without a bearing of the drive rods 22 serving as push rods to a group of second eccentrics 26 of the drive shaft 11 is made possible in that due to the inclination of the ramp surfaces 15 sloping down toward the drive shaft the drive rods 22 are pressed continuously by the weight of the movable grate 2 against the second eccentrics 26 and thus maintained in their operative position.

As may be seen the second eccentric disks 26 are displaced angularly relative to the first eccentric disks 10 and have also a larger stroke. The reason for this'is that in the-embodiment shown a circular motion is imparted to the movable grate 2 not only at its left end over the first eccentrics 10 but this circular motion must be provided also at the right end of the movable grate in the area of the roller support, in such a way that it is equal in time or cycle. As far as the stroke of the second eccentric disks 26 is concerned, this produces in consideration of the magnitude of the inclination of the ramp surfaces 15, a predetermined ratio relative to the stroke ofthe first eccentric disks 10, with the object that the support roller arrangement 18, 20 carries out the same vertical lift corresponding to the lift of the first eccentries 10. The angular displacement of the second eccentrics 26 relative to the first ecctrics 10 is derivedv from the assumption that depending on the level of the ramp surfaces 15 relative to the drive shaft 11 the movable grate 2 is moved always parallel to itself i.e., each point of the grate 2 moves in equal phases in a circular path-when the drive shaft 11 rotates.

It will be understood in connection with the drive according to the invention that with respect to the inclination of the ramp surfaces 16 as well as the configuration of the eccentric disks 10 and/or 26 representing control curves that it is possible to affect at choice the motion processes of the movable grate 2 either to produce a different vertical stroke at one end of the cooling bed relative to the other end while the advancing steps are equal and/or impart to the movable grate a type of wobbling motion.

What is claimed is:

ll. A drive for a transverse feeding installation comprising:

a. a movable grate co-operating with a stationar grate,

b. a drive shaft,

c. a plurality of first eccentrics attached to said drive shaft and supporting a first portion of said movable grate to impart a swinging motion to said movable grate,

d. a plurality of second eccentrics attached to said drive shaft,

e. drive rod means connected at one end to said secc. wherein said ramp means slopes downwardly to nd eccentrics, wards said drive shaft for holding said saddle rollers f. roller means provided at the other end of said drive in contact with said second eccentrics,

rod means, said roller means supported by a vramp d. said second eccentrics beingdisc-shaped. means and in turn supporting a second portion of 3. A drive as defined in claim 1, wherein'said roller said movable grate spaced from said first portion. means includes first rollers supporting said movable 2. A drive as defined in claim 1: grate at said second portion and second rollers contacta. including a saddle member connecting said second ing said ramp surfaces, said first and second rollers eccentrics to said drive rod means, being independently rotatable with respect to each b. said saddle member having a pair of spaced saddle 10 other.

rollers thereon, 

1. A drive for a transverse feeding installation comprising: a. a movable grate co-operating with a stationary grate, b. a drive shaft, c. a plurality of first eccentrics attached to said drive shaft and supporting a first portion of said movable grate to impart a swinging motion to said movable grate, d. a plurality of second eccentrics attached to said drive shaft, e. drive rod means connected at one end to said second eccentrics, f. roller means provided at the other end of said drive rod means, said roller means supported by a ramp means and in turn supporting a second portion of said movable grate spaced from said first portion.
 2. A drive as defined in claim 1: a. including a saddle member connecting said second eccentrics to said drive rod means, b. said saddle member having a pair of spaced saddle rollers thereon, c. wherein said ramp means slopes downwardly towards said drive shaft for holding said saddle rollers in contact with said second eccentrics, d. said second eccentrics being disc-shaped.
 3. A drive as defined in claim 1, wherein said roller means includes first rollers supporting said movable grate at said second portion and second rollers contacting said ramp surfaces, said first and second rollers being independently rotatable with respect to each other. 